It’s way past my bedtime but I cannot even consider sleeping. I foolishly had a fully caffeinated cappuccino at about 10 pm and now am wide awake listening to Billy Joel. Do you know that I confuse Billy Joel, Billy Idol and David Bowie… What is wrong with me, seriously? These three couldn’t be more different. It’s like mistaking Elmo, Oscar the Grouch and Grover. I can’t keep musicians straight in my head.
Anyway, I was drinking this cappuccino mostly as a chaser to two tasty glasses of wine at my new favourite place in town. Last week, my friends opened the only Enoteca in Ottawa, Divino Wine Studio. It has become my Cheers…you know, where everybody knows your name. I think that back in the 80s when I used to watch Cheers on TV and I listened to that infamous theme song, I never really got it. I never really understood the importance of having a place like that, not to mention that as a young impressionable girl preoccupied with disgustingly good behaviour, I thought it was so bizarre that people should spend their every night in an underground bar, drowning their sorrows and discussing banalities. I thought it was kind of pathetic actually. Well, little did I know that one day I would long for a place just like that. Little did I know that I would so desire the endless comfort of having one place in my town where I could walk in, know the whole cast of interesting characters and know that they will unfailingly be there to welcome me and share the mundane occurrences in their lives.
Well, I’ve got that place now and suddenly I know why folks long for places where people know that our troubles are all the same. Somewhere between university and 30, I became this paradoxical traveling recluse packing in trouble after trouble, worry after worry, forgetting that I am not the the first or last or only spiritual vagabond carrying far too much weight for her stature. Somehow, my Cheers puts things into perspective for me. Somehow, the predictability and the casualness of this place are grounding reminders of my humanity and that not every moment has to be dedicated to the search of some great meaning or to the discovery of some innovative theoretical framework explaining the blips and outliers on my life’s graph.
Some moments can and must be dedicated to tasting the differences between a Bolgheri Rosso and a Tommasi Amarone. Some moments must be spent letting people offer you a drink while they explain how to break open a 40 KG wheel of parmiggiano correctly. Some moments must be spent scrubbing a dirty grill. None of these is a waste of time. None of these will lead to enlightenment. None of these can be neglected.
“Divino” is an Italian play on words. It means both “of wine” and “divine”. I am reminded of Alexander Pope: “To err is human but to forgive is divine”. In some strange meandering way, Divino has reminded me that personal joy is about striking a balance between pursuing one’s dreams and forgiving oneself for not achieving them all immediately.
I will leave you with the prosaic lyrics to the Cheers Theme song from the special 200th episode–sobering words for the highfalutin spirit in us all.
The Cheers Theme
Complete Lyrics
Transcribed from the 200th Anniversary Show episode
Making your way in the world today
Takes everything you’ve got;
Taking a break from all your worries
Sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?
All those night when you’ve got no lights,
The check is in the mail;
And your little angel
Hung the cat up by it’s tail;
And your third fiance didn’t show;
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they’re always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows your name.
Roll out of bed, Mr. Coffee’s dead;
The morning’s looking bright;
And your shrink ran off to Europe,
And didn’t even write;
And your husband wants to be a girl;
Be glad there’s one place in the world
Where everybody knows your name,
And they’re always glad you came;
You want to go where people know,
People are all the same;
You want to go where everybody knows your name.
Where everybody knows your name,
And they’re always glad you came;
Where everybody knows your name,
And they’re always glad you came;
